Perspectives

Good News and Bad News. House Education and Labor Spending Bill Supports Pell Grants but Cuts Other Critical Supports for Community College Students

June 4, 2026

Jonathan Elkin
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Edited June 11, 2026, to reflect the amendments made to the bill after full committee markup. On June 10, the full U.S. House Appropriations Committee passed the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor-HHS-ED) bill on a party-line vote of 34-28. Here are updates from the full committee markup. 

Relevant Resources:

Passed Amendments:

  • ACCT Win! Advanced nursing programs would count as “professional” degrees with higher student loan limits. ACCT urged the Department of Education (ED) in February that ED’s regulation to impose the One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s lower loan caps on advanced nursing programs as “graduate” instead of “professional” degrees would harm community colleges’ ability to train the nursing workforce. Unfortunately, ED’s final regulation would maintain advanced nursing as “graduate” programs with lower loan caps ($20,500 annual and $100,000 lifetime). The adopted manager’s amendment in this House bill report – if enacted – would deem them as “professional” with higher loan caps ($50,000 annual and $200,000 aggregate). 

  • TRIO: The adopted manager’s amendment report language would require ED to maintain TRIO’s purpose and structure to award funding to two- and four-year colleges, nonprofits, and agencies to support first-generation and low-income students’ “attainment of bachelor’s and graduate degrees,” maintain “prior practice and congressional intent to prevent disruption to grantees, participants, and services,.” and post FY27 Talent Search and Educational Opportunity Centers competitions by December 2026. These are in response to ED’s FY26 applications for Talent Search (TS) and Educational Opportunity Centers (EOC) that prioritize short-term credentials and give competitive preference to state agencies rather than colleges. If enacted, this FY27 language could require ED to issue another round of TS and EOC funding so that grantees that do not win renewal in the FY26 competition could have another chance to continue services for at least a year. 

Failed Amendments:

  • Federal Work-Study and Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants: An amendment by Rep. Madeleine Dean (PA) to stop the bill’s deep cuts to these programs was defeated by voice vote. 
  • Subsidized Student Loans: An amendment by Rep. Dean to stop the bill’s elimination of subsidized student loans failed by a party-line vote of 26-32. 
  • Adult Education and Adult and Youth Job Training: An amendment by Rep. Frank Mrvan (IN) to stop the bill’s eliminations of these programs failed by voice vote. 
  • Reintegration of Ex-Offenders Job Training Program: An amendment by Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ) to restore funding for this program was defeated by a party-line vote of 26-31. 
  • Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Proposed Regulations on Political Appointee Oversight of Grants: An amendment to block the OMB proposed rule was defeated by 29-32, with Rep. Simpson (R-ID) crossing party lines to vote yes. 

Next steps: 

The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee leadership is in bipartisan negotiations on top-line funding levels for defense and nondefense totals before they allocate levels and write bills for Labor-HHS-ED and the other 11 appropriations subcommittees. The full U.S. House and Senate must pass identical versions of the appropriations bill, and it must be signed by the president, to be enacted. Because Congress rarely enacts all 12 appropriations bills by September 30, Congress frequently passes a short-term continuing resolution (CR) at flat funding to give itself more time.  

Edited June 8, 2026 to reflect additional program-level details

On June 4, 2026 the U.S. House Appropriations Committee released the detailed report for its Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies funding bill for fiscal year 2027 (FY27, which begins September 30). The bill passed the subcommittee on Friday, June 5. The bill includes good news and some bad news for community college students.  

First, the Good News

Thanks to the bipartisan advocacy of community college leaders and students this year, the bill protects or provides minor increases to top community college priorities, including the following: 

  • Pell Grants: $50 increase to the maximum Pell Grant award, to $7,445. This spring, community colleges helped earn a record-breaking 41 House Republicans and 141 Democrats publicly supporting Pell Grant funding. The bill provides $15 billion to shore up the Pell Grant shortfall. 
  • Strengthening Community Colleges Training Grants (SCCTG): $75,000,000 ($10 million or 15% increase). This spring, a record8 House Republicans and 8 Democrats publicly supported SCCTG funding.  
  • Career and Technical Education (CTE): $1.448 billion($8 million or 0.6% increase). This spring, 10 House Republicans and 47 Democrats publicly supported CTE funding. 
  • Apprenticeships: $290 million ($5 million or 1.8% increase) 
  • TRIO: $1.197 billion ($6 million or 0.5% increase).  
  • GEAR UP: $394 million ($6 million increase; 1.5% increase) 
  • Strengthening Institutions Program (SIP): $112 million ($10 million increase) 
  • Child Care Access Means Parents in School (CCAMPIS): $75 million or flat funding. This spring, community colleges helped earn record bipartisan support for CCAMPIS
  • Postsecondary Student Success Grants (PSSG):  $45 million or flat funding. This spring, community colleges helped earn strong bipartisan support for PSSG. 
  • Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs): $1 million increase, with $6,750,000 ($750,000 increase) for HBCU community or junior colleges. 
  • Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs): $57.8 million ($4 million or 7.4% increase) 
  • Hispanic Serving Institutions, Predominantly Black Institutions, Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions, and Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions: flat funding 
  • Native American Serving Nontribal Institutions: $12.6 million ($1 million increase) 

Now, the Bad News

The bill makes crucial cuts to student financial aid and job training for community college students. Overall, the bill proposes an $8 billion cut (10%) for the U.S. Department of Education (ED) and a $3.7 billion cut (27%) for the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). Cuts to key community college programs include:

  • Eliminate Adult Basic Education State Grants: $0 ($715 million or 100% cut) 
  • Slash Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (SEOG): $546 million ($364 million or 62% cut) 
  • Slash Federal Work-Study (FWS): $908 million ($322 million or 26% cut) 
  • Eliminate International Education: $0 ($81 million or 100% cut) 
  • Eliminate and Slash DOL Job Training Funding, including slashing the Employment and Training Administration by $3.3 billion (32%), slashing Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) by $1.8 billion (62%), eliminate new WIOA Adult Job Training ($876 million or 100%), eliminate WIOA Youth Job Training ($948 million or 100%), and eliminate Reintegration of Ex-Offenders ($110 million or 100%). 
  • Eliminate Subsidized Student Loans for 440,000 Community College Students (4 million total students). Without subsidized loans, students will need to use more costly unsubsidized or private loans, costing thousands of dollars more over the loan term. Approximately 11% of subsidized loans go to community college students. 
  • Slash Basic Needs for Postsecondary Students by half: $5 million, or a cut of $5 million (50%)

***Community colleges need your voice! Contact your U.S. House Members to thank them for protecting key programs – and urge them to reject cuts to community college students before the bill goes to the House floor.*** 

 ** Click here to email your U.S. House Members where you live and serve students! **

ACCT has prepared a sample email template you can easily send to your U.S. House Members. ACCT provides the contact information for their legislative directors and education legislative assistants.

What Happens Next?

The full Appropriations Committee will mark up the bill on Tuesday, June 9. The full House must also pass the bill. Meanwhile, the Senate is expected to release its version of the Labor-HHS-ED bill in the coming months. Both the House and Senate must pass identical versions of the bill, and the president must sign it into law. Due to the short timeline before the September 30 funding deadline, Congress may give itself an extension by passing a short-term continuing resolution (CR).  

Key Resources:

Community College Appropriations Priorities Table, FY27

Jonathan Elkin is the Director of Government Relations at ACCT


Photo Credit: PICRYL

Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) Grant Programs

The Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) supports projects that are innovative and address a range of postsecondary education challenges. These programs, such as the Postsecondary Student Success Grant (PSSG) Program, Rural Postsecondary and Economic Development (RPED) Grant Program, Basic Needs for Postsecondary Students Program, Centers of Excellence for Veteran Student Success (CEVSS) Program, and Open Textbook Pilot (OTP) Program provide good opportunities for community colleges to support their students’ success. Each of these are due Tuesday, June 23 at 11:59 pm Eastern, except PSSG, which is due Tuesday, June 29. Read More
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